On Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that enrollment in its health care system has surged by 30 percent in the past year due to the PACT Act. Over the past 365 days, more than 401,000 veterans have been enrolled in the VA health care system. The initial year of the newly expanded program saw 340,000 veterans have PACT Act-related claims approved.
This represents a significant increase over pandemic-level enrollment in 2020 and is the most yearly enrollees in at least the past five years at VA. The PACT Act, signed into law by President Biden in 2022, aimed to deliver the largest expansion of veterans benefits in decades, specifically expanding benefits for former service members exposed to toxins during war and suffering illnesses as a result.
In its first year after being signed into law, more than 4.1 million toxic exposure screenings were conducted. However, the Biden administration faced challenges including stressed resources and delays in providing aid to veterans. According to a VA release on Friday, Texas had the highest number of enrollees in its health care system with 41,287 people signing up for benefits, followed by California with 33,468 and Florida with 32,712 enrollees.
The VA has carried out an aggressive outreach campaign by hosting events, running multi-million-dollar advertisements and public service announcements to reach veterans who can access health care benefits. VA Secretary Denis McDonough stated that improved health outcomes and reduced costs were two main reasons why eligible veterans should enroll in VA health care. He also emphasized that approximately 693,000 veterans have had their priority groups upgraded since the PACT Act was passed, resulting in lower copays for them. McDonough added that these efforts will continue and there are no plans to slow down these efforts moving forward.
